Knoll Designer Bios

Hans Wegner

b. Denmark
1914-2007

Hans Wegner’s illustrious career began with an apprenticeship to a cabinetmaker at age 14 and matured during and after his furniture design studies at the Copenhagen Technical College. Wegner’s signature aesthetic marries the traditions of Danish craftsmanship with the reduced, honest tenets of modernism. The quality, simplicity, and functionalism of Wegner’s works made him synonymous with Danish Modernism of the 1950s.

In 1969, Knoll secured exclusive distribution rights to the Wegner designs, manufactured by J. Hansen, Copenhagen. Knoll’s Wegner Collection included more than a dozen chairs as well as a cabinet design with a variety of interior fittings. The acquisition of these pieces, which represented the aesthetic conviction of one of the 20th century’s foremost furniture designers, showed Knoll’s commitment to the preservation and promotion of modern furniture design.